Photo-bioreactors for photosynthetic culture in aqueous liquids are known in the art. They are often used for the production of algae. Two main types are known in the art, the open-ended systems and the closed systems. The open-ended photo-bioreactor includes a reactor, basin or vessel. The vessel can be a naturally-occurring body of aqueous liquid, such as a portion of a pond, lake, brook, river, canal, sea, etc. It can be a man-made basin made of steel, plastic, concrete, etc. with a bottom wall and sidewalls. The aqueous liquid provided in the photo-bioreactor typically includes water and the photosynthetic culture organisms such as algae or micro-organisms. It can include other substances.
The prior art discusses different configurations to allow light to penetrate the aqueous liquid of the aqueous systems. These configurations either do not take into account the solar position throughout the day and throughout the year or can exhibit prohibitive optical losses or alignment precision requirements.
There is a need to improve light distribution in open-ended systems to benefit from exposure to as much light as possible from the sun.